ASU BASKETBALL: Matchup that began in driveway carries over as coaches

ASU's Petree faces her mentor, neighbor Hearne

Arthur Spragg/Special to the Standard-Times Angelo State University women’s head basketball coach Cayla Petree will square off Wednesday against her former coach at Cisco College and neighbor, Tarleton’s Ronnie Hearne.

The women’s basketball coaches for Wednesday’s Tarleton State-Angelo State game in the Junell Center haven’t just coached against each other.

They’ve actually played against each other.

Tarleton’s Ronnie Hearne was a coaching icon to current ASU coach Cayla Petree when she was growing up in Cisco in the 1990s. Petree loved basketball, and Hearne was well into a 21-year stint as the women’s basketball coach at Cisco College, where he won 419 games from 1982 to 2003.

Hearne and Petree also were neighbors as far back as she can remember.

“She always wanted to play me in a game of one-on-one,” Hearne said.

That probably wasn’t a wise ambition for Petree since Hearne was a three-time all-conference basketball player for Abilene Christian and a member of the university’s athletic hall of fame. Hearne continued to play competitively in recreational leagues until he was 49, and he could still dunk a basketball into his 50s.

“He and his wife came walking by one day. She went on home, but coach Hearne stopped and played me one-on-one. He beat me playing in his coveralls and boots,” Petree said.

“I beat her 10-1,” Hearne said. “I thought maybe after that, she would listen to me better if I ever coached her.”

Petree became a basketball star at Cisco High School, even signing a college scholarship agreement with NCAA Division I member Stephen F. Austin after her junior season. But after suffering torn anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees, Petree played in only seven games during her final two years at Cisco High. Somewhere between the injuries and a coaching change, the scholarship to Stephen F. Austin was pulled.

Petree still wanted to play so she stayed home and played at Cisco College for Hearne, her neighbor and one-on-one nemesis.

“After my first ACL surgery, he came to visit and told me how hard the rehab would be, but that he still believed in me,” Petree said. “He didn’t have to do that because, at the time, I was still going to Stephen F. Austin.

“If I was going to have to play junior college ball first, I wanted to play for him. He knew I needed him. Even though I still wanted to play Division I basketball someday, the best thing for me at that time was to play for him in junior college. It’s funny how things work out.”

Since she lived in Cisco, Petree often shot baskets and even had her own key to the college gym.

“Coach Hearne was always coming by the gym and teaching me some moves or ball-handling drills,” Petree said. “Before the other players arrived, he told me that he was going to make me cry, but that he still loved me. He knew I wanted to play Division I ball, and he pushed me in every sense of the word.”

Did he make Petree cry?

“Maybe once or twice,” she said.

“I’ve made a lot of girls cry. It’s part of the process of growing up and being a college basketball player,” said Hearne, whose 43-year coaching career also includes stops at high schools in Jacksboro and Millsap.

“All the players you coach in college were the stars of their high school teams. A lot of the time, their high school coaches never really pushed them or got onto them because they were the stars.”

Petree never looked back from the two knee surgeries. Playing guard, she was voted Freshman of the Year in Cisco College’s conference one year and made all-conference the second year. The success didn’t surprise her coach.

“I didn’t have any doubts about her coming back because she wanted to play so bad,” Hearne said. “Once players get to take their knee brace off (usually a year after surgery), it makes a lot of difference in their mobility and movement.”

Petree said, “Nobody pushed me harder, but there was nobody who believed in me more than he did. He helped me grow up and made me tougher. I can’t tell you the level of respect I have for him.”

During their two years together at Cisco College, Petree picked up many of Hearne’s coaching methods and catchphrases.

“You have to move without the basketball.”

“The screen setter is always open.”

“Just because you’re respectful doesn’t mean you’re coachable. Don’t just say, ‘Yes sir’ to me. Take what I say and execute it.”

After transferring to and playing for Texas Tech and earning a master’s degree, Petree followed in Hearne’s footsteps by coaching women’s basketball at Cisco College.

“He was my hero growing up, and trying to do what he did was a goal of mine,” Petree said. “He’s one of the smartest coaches there is at any level. He can tell you what to do, show you how to do it (often in one-on-one drills even today at age 66) and tell you why you’re supposed to do it.

“I’m trying to use those things in my own coaching. I’m not as good as he is, but I try.”

Hearne left Cisco College in 2003 for Tarleton, where in 11 seasons he has won 206 games and has the TexAnns seeking a fifth consecutive NCAA II postseason berth.

Hearne and Petree have kept in touch through the years. When she was named Angelo State’s head coach prior to this season, Hearne emailed: “I wish you the best against everyone except Tarleton State.”

Hearne won their first meeting, 74-56, in Stephenville last month. Wednesday will be Petree’s chance for redemption — not just for the earlier loss this season but for that one-on-one game in her driveway years ago.

“We’re really close, but when the ball goes up, I don’t think about all that other stuff,” Petree said. “We both just want to win.”

Hearne said, “Coaching against her is like playing one-on-one against your little brother. You don’t want to lose, for sure.

“But we’ve all got to realize when it’s over that it was just a game. That’s all. It’s not life or death.”